


tired voices (ring through the dead of night)

by zanykingmentality



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Established Relationship, F/M, Light Angst, Long-Distance Relationship, mentioned hoshido siblings, stop me 2k16
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-29
Updated: 2016-08-29
Packaged: 2018-08-11 15:27:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7897942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zanykingmentality/pseuds/zanykingmentality
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Takumi's used to being alone. So it shouldn't hurt this much when Kamui has to leave him to go on a business trip. </p>
<p>It <i>shouldn't</i>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	tired voices (ring through the dead of night)

**Author's Note:**

> i have no excuse. this is. completely self-indulgent. which is weird to say because this is angsty but sHHHH
> 
> i need to stop writing so much modern au lol

“Hello?”

Even though the crappy speakers of his early-2000s flip phone, her voice is like heaven. “Hey,” he breathes. “It’s me.”

“Takumi!” She makes no effort to mask the joy in her voice. “I missed you. But why are you calling so late…?”

The soft smile on his face drops almost immediately, remembering the longing and nostalgia that had gripped him, the memories of searing fingers against his arms and chapped lips against his own. He swallows thickly and sits against the wall, pulling his knees to his chest. “No reason. I just wanted… to hear your voice.”

He can’t see her, but he can _feel_ her smile, like it’s radiating its own unique sound waves that only he can hear.

“It’s been so long since I last saw you,” he adds, trying to further justify the reason for his call. “And I guess I just…”

She giggles. “There’s no shame in saying you missed me, stupid.”

“Fine,” he says, breathing in deeply to calm his somersaulting stomach. “Kamui. I missed you.”

She’s silent for a moment; his entire face feels like it’s burning. It feels like it’s been an eternity when she finally says, “I missed you too.”

“Ah, geez,” he mumbles.

Her laughter drifts through the receiver; Takumi can’t help how his lips twitch up in a smile.

“How is everyone?” he asks.

“Right now?” He hears the rustle of sheets. The sound makes his ears burn. “Um, Silas is getting orange juice, Jakob’s complaining about how ‘hotel orange juice can be detrimental to your health, Miss Kamui’ – that’s an actual quote, by the way – and Azura’s taking a shower.”

“Sounds like you’ve got your hands full,” Takumi comments.

“Heh, maybe.” She pauses for a moment. “I’ll always have time for you, though.” Takumi’s embarrassed laugh becomes a cough. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he says. “I just, uh.” He doesn’t feel like telling her the effect her words had on him. Even two years later, she still manages to get under his skin and catch him off guard.

“If you say so,” she says, sounding wholly unconvinced. “The trip should only last another two weeks. Then I’ll be able to come home.”

“Yeah.” He runs a hand over the sheets of his bed, smoothing down the crinkles, ignoring the way his stomach churns. “I look forward to it.”

“How’s Hinoka?” Kamui loves all of Takumi’s siblings, but she’s always been partial to the oldest sister, Hinoka.

“She’s doing alright. She misses you, though.”

“I miss her too,” Kamui murmurs.

They’re both silent for a few seconds. The moon shines through Takumi’s window and illuminates a patch of the carpet in its pale white glow.

“I can’t believe you’ve already been gone for three weeks,” he mumbles, almost mournfully.

“Yeah…” Kamui responds. “But we’ll be back before you know it.”

“We could have forever together and it still wouldn’t be long enough,” he says, without thinking. Almost immediately, his cheeks flush. “Uh, I mean – it was just a line that kind of, um, came to me – ”

“It was very sweet,” Kamui cuts him off. “Thank you.” Her voice is so gentle and warm. Takumi closes his eyes to ease the sudden burning sensation behind them, like his eyes are trying to see something that isn’t there. Some _one_ that isn’t there.

The sound of footsteps drifts through the speaker. Takumi frowns. “Are you walking somewhere?”

“Yeah,” Kamui mumbles. “Our hotel room is really small. I needed to get outside.” Takumi doesn’t comment on this, because he knows her aversion to small spaces, and he knows about how her foster father used to lock her in the attic for days on end. His gaze slides to the city lights outside his window; he really was lucky to get an apartment with a view like this. He can see moon’s reflection in the lake, and the blinking lights of the city skyline, and streets bustling with life even after midnight.

He can hear wind and light breathing.

“Maybe we’re looking at the same sky,” Kamui whispers. “But I’m sad I can’t see any stars.”

“In that case, we’re definitely looking at the same sky,” Takumi reassures her, “because I can’t see the stars either.”

Though his ears can only pick up her sighing, he knows her eyes are closed.

“Thank you,” she says, so quietly he almost doesn’t catch it. “I miss you so much.”

“I miss you too,” he says, as gently as he can. Takumi’s well aware that being soft isn’t exactly his forte, but he has his moments. And he thinks, just for a second, he can hear her heart beating. “But you’ll be home soon, right?”

“Definitely,” she responds immediately. “I’ll definitely be home soon. Wait for me.”

“Gladly.” He spreads his legs out in front of him and lets them stick out over the edge of the bed. “I’ll wait for you as long as you need me too.”

“Thank you,” she breathes again. “Thank you.”

“There’s no need for that,” he mumbles. “Just come home safely and that’ll be enough.”

“Okay. I will.” There’s a brief pause on her end of the line. Then: “It’s really late in your timezone, right? You should get to sleep.”

“Yeah, I will. You go to sleep soon too, okay?” He gnaws on his lower lip, loneliness pressing down on his chest like the weight of the world, and he’s Atlas, in charge of holding it all up.

“Yeah, yeah. Oh, I think I see Jakob coming out. He looks frantic. I’ll talk to you tomorrow night.”

“Tomorrow night, then. I love you.”

“I love you too.” And the line clicks off.

Nobody holds the sky with Atlas. If he drops it, everything’s over.

Behind closed eyelids, he tries to envision Kamui with her crimson eyes and winter-white hair – but that’s _all_ he sees, rising panic and hair that brushes against his cheeks when they kiss. Pathetic, isn’t it? That it’s been three weeks and already he’s starting to forget what she looks like. His repressed terror lumps in his throat, heavy and suffocating.

Sakura’s taken up photography recently; he’ll ask her for pictures. She’s bound to have some. Despite having a course of action, his anxiety doesn’t fade.

He shifts, flopping onto the bed, the back of his head falling onto the pillow. The room is faintly illuminated by the moon; he stares at the edges of the bookshelf until he can clearly make out every shape and line that litters his bedroom.

Two more weeks. He can hold on for two more weeks.

Nobody holds the sky with Atlas.

**Author's Note:**

> hahaha i can't write long paragraphs
> 
> jakob is me. i hate hotel orange juice. it's the worst. have you noticed i am actually a child? chocolate milk and orange juice. yep that's me


End file.
